CHAP.
VII.

State of

Greece after

war.

CHAPTER VII.

THE RETURN OF THE HERACLEIDS.

State of Greece after the Trojan War. The Thessalians
migrate from Epirus into Thessaly.
Baotians. Who conquer Baotia. -
Connection between the Dorians and the Heracleids. - In-

They drive out the Dorian migration. —

The Dorians break into

quiry into the truth of the legend.
Peloponnesus. Conquest of Elis. The Achæans retreat
before the Dorians into Ionia. - Partition of the conquered
land among the Heracleids. Means by which the Dorians
effected their conquests. — Settlement of Cresphontes in Mes-
senia. Various accounts of the subjugation of Laconia.
Resistance of Amycle. The Dorians in Laconia joined by
the Egeids. The Minyans in Laconia and Triphylia.
The Dorians in Epidaurus.
Sicyon -and
Phlius. The Dorians conquer Corinth. - Invade Attica.
Codrus. Conquest of Megara and Egina. - Expedi-
tions of the Dorians to Crete. - Colonies founded by Pollis.
By Althamenes. - State of Crete at the time of the
Dorian Conquest. Cretan institutions. Subjects.-
Freemen. Form of Government.—Cretan Sys-
sitia. Education.

Slaves.

THE Trojan war, as we find it described, was not, acthe Trojan cording to any conception that may be formed of the magnitude of the expedition and the conquest, an event that necessarily produced any important effects on the condition of Greece. There is no apparent reason why, as soon as it was ended, all the surviving princes and chiefs might not have returned to their dominions, to enjoy the fruits of their victory in honourable repose, and have transmitted their sceptres in peace to their children.1 The Odyssey accordingly

I See B. Thiersch, p.165. foll., and his essay, (in Jahn's Jahrbücher für Philologie und Pädagogik, 1826,) Ueber Homer's Europäischen Ursprung, p. 440., and, for the opposite view of the subject, Plass, (in Seebode's Neues Archiv für Philologie und

represents parts of Greece - especially the dominions
of Nestor and Menelausas continuing, after the
war, under the rule of the heroes who fought at Troy;
and we might infer from this description, that the
great national struggle was followed by a period of
general tranquillity. On the other hand, the poet
signifies that, after the fall of Troy, the victors in-
curred the anger of the gods, who had before espoused
their cause. The Odyssey is filled with one example
of the calamities which the divine wrath brought upon
the Greeks, in the person of Ulysses, king of Ithaca.
Menelaus himself, though we find him in the poem
reigning in great prosperity at Lacedæmon, was only
permitted to reach home after a long course of wan-
dering over distant seas and lands. Ajax, son of
Oileus, perished in the waves. Agamemnon was mur-
dered, on his return to Argos, by Ægisthus, who in
his absence had seduced his wife Clytemnestra, and
who usurped the throne of the murdered king, which
was not recovered before the end of several years by
Orestes, the rightful heir. Neoptolemus, son of Achil-
les, Philoctetes, one of the Thessalian chiefs, Diomed
of Argos, and Idomeneus of Crete, are expressly said
to have returned safe with all their followers.
the poet does not inform us in what state they found
their dominions, or how long they retained possession
of them; and in the legends of later times they are
related to have been forced by various causes to quit
their native land, and to settle in foreign regions. We
cannot indeed place any reliance on these and other
similar traditions, because the hint which the Odyssey
suggests of the disasters which befel the Greeks after
their victory1, might easily be expanded by the im-
agination of later poets; and still more, because the

But

Pädagogik, 1828,) Versuch ueber den Trojanischen Krieg als Historische Thatsache, p. 60., who represents the return of the heroes as followed by a series of revolutions and conflicts in Greece.

I III. 132.

CHAP.

VIL

VII.

CHAP. vanity of colonies was always interested in tracing their origin to a remote period, and a renowned name. But in itself it is probable enough that, in many instances, the long absence of the chiefs might give occasion to usurpations or revolutions, and to the expulsion or voluntary migration of royal or noble families. Still, how far this was actually the case, must remain uncertain. One inevitable result however of such an event as the Trojan war, must have been, to diffuse among the Greeks a more general knowledge of the isles and coasts of the Egean, and to leave a lively recollection of the beauty and fertility of the regions in which their battles had been fought. This would direct the attention of future emigrants in search of new homes, toward the same quarter; and the fact, that the tide of migration really set in this direction first, when the state of Greece became unsettled, may not unreasonably be thought to confirm the reality of the Trojan war.1

For sixty years however after the fall of Troy, history is silent as to any great change in the face of Greece. At the end of that period, if not sooner, began a long train of wars, invasions, and migrations, which finally introduced a new order of things both in Greece itself, and in most of the surrounding countries. The original source of this memorable revolution probably lay out of the limits of Greece, The Thes- and beyond the reach of historical investigation. We are only able to trace it as far as Thessaly, which was from Epirus the scene of its first visible outbreak. Here, how saly. soon after the Trojan war we are unable to conjecture, the Thessalians, crossing over the chain of Pindus from Epirus, descended into the rich plains on the banks of the Peneus, and began the conquest of the country, which finally derived its name from

salians

migrate

into Thes

Plass, u. s. p. 63.

VII.

them. As they came from the Thesprotian Ephyra, an ancient seat of the Pelasgians, it seems probable that they belonged to that race; and this is confirmed B. C. 1124. by the fact, that, though they never rose to a level in civilisation with the other Greeks, they spoke the same language. A few slight peculiarities in their national dress, and the reproach of fickleness, faithlessness, and coarse sensuality 1, which in after-times clung to their character, are hardly sufficient grounds for supposing that they were of a totally foreign origin an Illyrian tribe, which adopted the speech of the conquered people.2 Their fabulous progenitor, Thessalus, was called by some a son of Hercules; by others, of Hæmon, from whom Thessaly had anciently received the name of Hæmonia. The motive for inventing the last genealogy, may have been the wish to establish a legitimate title to their conquest; and, as migrations appear to have taken place very early from Thessaly to Epirus, their claim might not be absolutely unfounded. They were likewise said to have been headed by descendants of Antiphus and Phidippus, who traced their line through Thessalus to Hercules; though in the Homeric catalogues these two chiefs lead their forces from Cos and the neighbouring islands on the coast of Asia.3 Here too there may have been truth at the bottom: though the nation was Pelasgian, some of their chiefs may have been of pure Hellenic blood. The Thessalians were always famous for their love of horses, and their skill

1 On the faithlessness of the Thessalians see Voemel, Proleg. ad Demosth. Phil. i. § 24. n. 8., and add Livy, xxxiv. 51. On their gluttony, Athen. x. 12, and ii. p. 47. b. On the licentiousness of their entertainments only a little less gross than that of the Roman Floralia (Val. Max. ii. 10. 8.) — Athen. xiii. p. 607. c.

See Mueller, Dorians, Introduction, § 4. and compare the remark of Heraclides Pont. in Athenæus, xiv. 19. Θεσσαλοί, οὗτοι γάρ εισι τὴν ἀρχὴν τοῦ γένους Αἰολεῦσι μεταδόντες, παραπλήσιον ἀεὶ ποιοῦνται τοῦ βίου τὴν ἀγωγήν· and the description which follows of the Æolian character: τὸ τῶν Αἰολέων ἦθος ἔχει τὸ γαῦρον καὶ ογκώδες, ἔτι δὲ ὑπόχαυνον· ὁμολογεῖ δὲ ταῦτα ταῖς ἱπποτροφίαις αὐτῶν καὶ ξενοδοχίαις· οὐ πανοῦργον δὲ, ἀλλὰ ἐξηρμένον καὶ τεθαῤῥηκός· διὸ καὶ οἰκεῖόν ἐστ ̓ αὐτοῖς ἡ φιλοποσία καὶ τὰ ἐρωτικὰ, καί πᾶσα ἡ περὶ τὴν δίαιταν ἄνεσις.

3 See Boeckh. Explic. ad Pind. Pyth, x. (vol. iii. p. 332.).

CHAP.
VII.

have been from this central position that the Bootians carried their arms, either successively, or in B. C. 1124. separate bodies at once, northward against the opulent Orchomenus, and southward against Thebes. A legend which referred the origin of one of the Theban festivals to this epoch, intimates that the army which besieged Thebes was for some time obliged to content itself with ravaging the surrounding country, being unable to make any impression on the town.1 The fall of Orchomenus and Thebes determined the fate of the whole country. According to the assertion which Thucydides puts into the mouth of the Thebans, in their reply to the captive Platæans, Platea was conquered after the rest of Boeotia. The Thebans there speak of having founded the city, after having ejected a motley race, which previously occupied it; and this was probably the current opinion at Thebes, being an argument in favour of their claim to supremacy over the Platæans. But the Platæans prided themselves on being an aboriginal people: the only kings they remembered, were Asopus and Cithæron; and their heroine, Platæa, was the daughter of the river-god.2 The Boeotian name and language may have spread further than the change that took place in the population of the country: and perhaps the hostility to Thebes, which we shall find the Platæans retaining throughout the whole course of their history, may have arisen, or have gained strength, from the consciousness of a different origin. The conquest of Boeotia, as that of Thessaly, drove many from their homes; and a great body of these fugitives, joined by bands of adventurers from Peloponnesus, who were led by descendants of Agamemnon, embarked for Asia. These expeditions constituted the Eolian migration, so called from the race which

1 Proclus Chrestom. 26. p. 386. ed. Gaisf.

Paus, ix. 1, 2.